Thursday, May 6, 2010

The Ballymore Eustace People of the Year Awards 2010“And the Nominees are….”

It’s this time of year again – and this year, we closed the nominations a few weeks early as we had received the six below and some of these had several individual nominations. We’ve held two over until next year. So get in early, Folks, next year if you really want your Hero/Heroine to be entered! See here a brief on our six nominations – the length of submission printed here is irrelevant; additional information will be discussed and available to the judging panel. Tim and Rose would like to reiterate that it really doesn’t matter who wins the overall award, they are all winners as far as Ballymore Eustace is concerned. The Award Night will be held in the Resource Centre on Saturday, 6th February after 7pm mass, doors open at 7.30pm so come early if you want a seat ‘cos its definitely going to be a full house!

Congratulations to all our nominees, well deserved and long overdue for many of you.

Liam LawlorChoir, Children’s Choir, Scoil Mhuire, Meals on Wheels, etcRetired school teacher, Liam Lawlor, has been nominated for the love of music he instilledinto the children of Scoil Mhuire.

For years, Liam accompanied the Children’s Choir at mass and it didn’t matter where the family were, Liam travelled back to Ballymore to join them. He is involved with Meals-on-Wheels, the local golf society and supports the Ballymore Eustace Singing Festival; you’ll always find Geraldine and Liam out supporting table quizzes and local fundraising events.

“Liam continues to sing and play the guitar with the adult church choir; he is always willing to sing at funerals and never asks for anything in return. While choir members come and go - Liam is alwaysavailable, our most consistent member. There are only some of the reasons I am nominating Liam but also because he’s ‘an absolute pet’ (we know Geraldine loves cats) and this nomination is long overdue”

The Ballymore Eustace Historical SocietyIn recognition of “Ballymore Eustace – Portrait of a Village”“I would like to put the Historical Society forward for the People of the Year Award. The launch of the wonderful book they put together deserves a nomination. The amount of time and work that went into this was unbelievable. I think they were working on it for 2-3 years, at least; to put so much together, with wonderful photos and so much history, was fantastic.

I’m not ‘native-born’ but I can imagine how much pleasure locals derived from the publication – going back over generations of photographs and so many residents who’ve long since passed away.I just thought that I should send in a nomination this year and hope that they get recognition for their wonderful achievement. Throughout the year, they also have visiting lecturers, high profile historians available to local enthusiasts at minimal cost”

Chris DennisonWork with CDA, ABCD, Festival Committee, Bugle Photographer, etc“I would like to nominate Christopher Dennison for the People of the Year Award. Over the years, he has served on several committees – the Community Development Association (CDA); the planning group, the Association for Ballymore Controlled Development (ABCD) which brought several appeals to An Bord Pleanála; the Punchestown Festival Committee and he has used his talents as a photographer and videographer to capture the sights and events in Ballymore, many of which have appeared in The Bugle and on The Bugle website.

In preparing for the Emirates Race and Punchestown Festival Week, he gave of his free time and erected flag poles and fencing around the village. I think this nomination is long overdue for someone who has given up so much of his time for the betterment of Ballymore Eustace.”

James KavanaghThe Des Kennedy Memorial Award for Outstanding Sporting AchievementIt is very fitting that James Kavanagh is the recipient of this, our first ever Sporting Award sponsored by Naas Credit Union and dedicated to the memory of the late Des Kennedy who served as a member of the board at Naas CU for many years.

When Des was ill earlier this year, he appeared at one stage to have slipped into a coma; Kildare were playing a Championship match that weekend and when Des surprised family and medical staff by wakening up, he enquired how Kildare got on and “How did our man (meaning James) get on?”

Last year was a phenomenal year for young Garda, James. Not only was he one of the top scorers from play in the Championship but he was also shortlisted for the All-Star and GPA awards. In Kildare’s campaign against Offaly, Laois, Tyrone, Wicklow and Dublin, James made his mark and especially so against Wexford, when he was voted RTÉ’s Man of the Match.

James’ county selection was no surprise after a culmination of several underage club titles at all ages plus three league and two champ’ titles at minor level. James also won an All-Ireland School’s title with St Jarlath’s of Galway; won Senior League Division 2 with Ballymore and has played with Kildare at all age levels and won a Leinster U/21 title. Congratulations to James Kavanagh, Kildare’s high scoring left half forward and one of the most tenacious mid-fielders to wear the green and gold of Ballymore.

Laura Barrett, Juvenile Badminton Club“Regarding your Person of the Year Award, we would like to nominate Laura Barrett for the time, dedication and weekly commitment she gives every Thursday afternoon to the Badminton Club.She is a very genuine, caring person and the children love her. Our own daughter would not have started playing but for Laura, and now, she wouldn’t miss a Thursday!

Laura organises club competitions and gives out awards, not only to the best players, but also to some of the other children for attendance, enthusiasm, etc She further involves the children in the sale of Bandanas in aid of Barrettstown Camp, a very worthy cause and it is good to see the members raise money for something in support of children experiencing health problems.

We think Laura would be a deserving recipient as there are not too many people who would take on 70 children for four hours every week – that’s some achievement, in this day and age, and it’s all voluntary. We would also like to acknowledge the other helpers who volunteer – without them and Laura, there would be no badminton club”.

Aileen Murphy and Janet MacDermottFundraising in aid of Breast Cancer Research“We would like to nominate Janet MacDermott and Aileen Murphy as Ballymore Eustace Persons of the Year. These are two very private and reserved ladies, who have catapulted themselves into the public eye in the role of fundraisers. Both ladies have undergone illness and subsequent treatment and then set about collecting funds for Mr Geraghty’s Research Programme in Tallaght Hospital which investigates genetic factors that may cause Breast Cancer.Janet is a consummate example of a Christian person who glides through this community doing an amazing amount of charitable work, which most people know nothing about. Give this busy lady something to do and you can consider it done – and, it’s a certainty that she will do another good deed in the course of doing the first good deed! A member of the St Vincent de Paul Society, Meals on Wheels, The Garden Club, University of 3rd Life in Blessington and an active member of St John’s Church congregation - there are many other strings to this lady's ‘bow’ which I can’t discuss in this nomination.Aileen a quiet lady, a mum and active participant in the arts community in Ballymore, has an amazing talent, with camera, easel and brush. She is a member of Cruthú, an organisation which promotes arts in the West Wicklow Area and whose works were on display at the Art Exhibition in The Ballymore Inn and Russborough recently, to great acclaim. She recently donated a beautiful painting to St John’s Church. You will see her at GAA matches supporting local teams and generally, supporting most local endeavours and events.

Together, they organized a cookery demonstration in County Kitchens which was so oversubscribed it had to be scheduled for a second night. The two nights were fantastic fun, entertaining and informative and raised considerable funds. They went on then, to fundraise at the opening of the Art Exhibition in the Ballymore Inn. All these efforts add to the "Big Picture" of what is needed to sustain the research into the genetic causes into Breast Cancer”

Ballymore Eustace Juvenile GFC“I wish to nominate the Juvenile GAA Club as people of the year 2009. I am involved myself with the club but I make no apology for my bias on this occasion. My nomination acknowledges the valuable input made by everyone associated with the Juvenile Club and the club’s achievements in 2009.

Under normal circumstance, it would be relatively easy to pick out those in the GAA whose efforts made Ballymore Eustace a better place to live by way of their achievements. Not in 2009 - rather than selecting a few individuals, this nomination is for everyone associated with the club.

2009 was a huge year for all clubs in Kildare with Féile coming to the county for the first time in 20 years. A boys’ team from Clonmel and a girls’ from New York were hosted for the weekend in Ballymore whilst we welcomed teams from Clane, Warwickshire and Hertfordshire to play here. Ballymore Eustace was shown internationally as a great, welcoming place.

This was a huge community effort and special acknowledgement to the parents who accommodated visiting children and catered for the other teams; to the Sponsors who contributed to the Ballymore gear, boys and girls teams; to the Féile co-ordinators for the huge effort in making everything run smoothly; to the fundraising bungee jumpers, to the venues where we entertained our guests, and to the committee who prepared the village and pitch.

And a week later came Oxegen! Over ninety brave souls did stewarding over the four nights of Oxegen and raised over €15,000 to help pay off some of the club’s debt. This huge effort was co-ordinated by the juvenile club and it was great to see the juvenile committee and parents working with the senior ladies and mens’ teams as volunteers. Thanks also to the businesses who helped with catering.

Competitive ‘blitzes’ with visiting juvenile teams, children’s discos in the Resource Centre, the girls bag-packing at Dunne’s went ahead as usual but these were hardly noticed with all the “big stuff” going on - and that was just the adults.

The real focus of this nomination is testament to the phrase “you get out what you put in”. We are a small community – but we have juvenile boys football teams from U 7 to U 14; girls teams from U 10 to U 15 and Hurling Teams U 8, 10, 12 and U 14. Dedicated mentors, trainers and coaches look after these teams all year, each discipline is well looked after and it shows in the results with history being made by the boys’ hurling team and the girls’ football team.

Ballymore Eustace crowned U 14 League ChampionsU 12 Girls bring first ever League Cup to Ballymore after only 18 months establishedBallymore Girls make U12 County teamSchool Hurling Team bring first ever hurling honours to BallymoreUnder 12 Boys Team beaten in League Final in County Grounds, NewbridgeUnder 10 Team win League Final against Castlemitchell in a tight fought gameUnder 13 Girls reach final in highly competitive league

This nomination is for the committee, the parents, the sponsors, the mentors, trainers and coaches, the fundraisers, the coordinators, anyone who helps out and most especially to the juvenile players who it must be said played their hearts out in 2009. I’ve said it before and its worth saying again – the juvenile GAA club is a shining light in what is currently a very tough economic time and the excitement, pride and fun these young players bring to the community is enormous.

The Ballymore Eustace People of the Year Awards 2010Sponsored by Naas Credit UnionAt The Resource Centre on Saturday 6th February @ 8pm. Doors open at 7.30pm – All Welcome – Rose and Tim